Wichita State men's basketball interim head coach Isaac Brown spoke to media ahead of the Shockers' matchup with UCF on Wednesday. Brown talked about what he thinks his team can do to win by bigger margins, adjustments that need to be made defensively and how the team is learning from mistakes.
 
The Shockers' matchup with UCF is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday on ESPN+.
 
INTERIM HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN on … 
 
Opening Statement:
"Central Florida is a good basketball team. There are two guys that shoot 40% from the three-point line in Green and Mahan. We've got to do a good job of limiting their three-pointers. We've got to do a good job of guarding the big boys. We've got to try to slow Adams down. They're a good basketball team and can really score it in the half court. And they made 13 three-pointers versus Tulsa in a win on the road. And I know those guys will be amped up."
 
… what his team can do win by a bigger margin:
"I like winning close ball games. I mean the other team is trying to win. So that's a tough question. They're a good basketball team. Again, they beat Auburn and Florida State. So I just hope we can get the win. I don't really care how close it is. It's not like we're a team has been beating people by 20 and 30 points. We were a better team when it's a closer ballgame. Hopefully we can just slow them down from making threes, not turn it over, do a better job on the glass. It's a 50-50 game. They got a good basketball team."
 
… what he thinks his team needs to do to see themselves in more Bracketology projections:
"I am not focused much on that. I just let those people make those decisions. We've just got to keep winning games. The next opponent is the next team on the schedule and we've got to do a good job against Central Florida. If you can continue to win, that'll take care of itself. So we've just got to go down and play a good game. We've got two games on the road, two really good teams, Central Florida and SMU. And we've just got to play well against central Florida."
 
… what adjustments he thinks can be made on defense:
"In film, we're showing all this kind of stuff where guys are getting back cut, guys are getting inside position and we're just not rebounding at a high level. The last game we played, we gave up 18 offensive rebounds against temple. That's just not good enough on the glass. We've got to do a better job of checking out and it's got to be all five guys. And then on the offense, we've got to go rebound, but we try to practice it every day. We do rebounding drills. We do contact drills. We do positioning drills, everything you can think of we've done to try to be a better rebounding team."
 
… if waiting a long time between road games makes an impact:
"We've just got to be tougher on the road. Memphis zapped us really quick. Those guys were trapping in the half court. They had a good basketball team. I just think we've got to make sure, anytime you go on the road, there are going to be times where you may not be making shots and when you're not making shots, it can affect your defense. So our defense has got to carry on the road. We've still got to defend, we've still got to rebound. We've still got to play with toughness even when we're not making shots. So that's the biggest thing for us. At Houston, we weren't making shots. We stopped defending at Memphis. We didn't make shots. We stopped defending. We've got to continue to defend even when we're not making shots."
 
… if he thinks about where his team is in the standings:
"We're just taking it one game at a time. We try to get better each and every game. We try to learn from our mistakes. We continue to talk about the rebounding. So we're working to get better at that every day. We've been having low turnovers of the guys who've been sharing the basketball on offense. We're trying to get better spacing on offense and just continue to take good shots and get the ball to the right people that are scoring it. If we can get it to Morris on the block or Tyson there to get wide open threes or Dexter Dennis get open shots. That's what we try to do. So we just continue to try to better at the little things each and every day in practice."
 
… if he thinks the team has been learning from mistakes well:
"Yes. They've been having a great attitude. After the Memphis game, we learned from it. Back to the Mizzou game, the Oklahoma State game, all those teams that we played early on, we learned from those games. You've got to learn from your losses and eye in the sky doesn't lie. So we go back and watch film. Those guys don't take it to heart. They come into practice with a good attitude and just try to get better and learn from their mistakes."
 
… if protecting the paint or the three-point line is more of a priority:
"We've got to do both. They got two dangerous shooters in Green and Mahan and both of those guys are capable of getting eight 3ss in a game. They combined for about 13 threes against Tulsa. So we've got to do a good job of defending the three-point line. We've got to do a good job of defending the paint, making sure Reynolds doesn't get any deep post touches. We've got to do a good job guarding penetration. We've just got to do a good job of defending them as well. We've got to try to get deflections. We've got to try to pressure those guys. We want to make those guys feel us. And we've got to do a good job of limiting their second shots."